Child{3 s gate

ABSTRACT

A child&#39;&#39;s gate is presented, i.e., a gate for preventing movement through a doorway or similar passageway, having a pair of vertical struts attached to opposite sides of the passageway and a horizontal bracing bar extending between the pair of passageway engaging vertical struts at a low point near the bottom of the gate. The standard pantographic type collapsible gate of hinged links extends from one of the pair of vertical struts and is connected to a third vertical strut which can, in turn, be selectively engaged with or disengaged from the other of the pair of passage engaging vertical struts.

United States Patent [191 Berkowitz [4 1 May 27, 1975 1 CHILDS GATE [22] Filed: Mar. 27, 1973 [21] Appl. No.: 345,260

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1950 Turner 160/136 5/1952 Griffin 160/368 R Primary Examiner-Dennis L. Taylor 571 ABSTRACT A child's gate is presented, i.e., a gate for preventing movement through a doorway or similar passageway, having a pair of vertical struts attached to opposite sides of the passageway and a horizontal bracing bar extending between the pair of passageway engaging vertical struts at a low point near the bottom of the gate. The standard pantographic type collapsible gate of hinged links extends from one of the pair of vertical struts and is connected to a third vertical strut which can, in turn, be selectively engaged with or disengaged from the other of the pair of passage engaging vertical struts.

4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures CHILDS GATE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to the field of gates. More particularly, this invention relates to the field of collapsible gates of the type used to prevent movement of children or small animals from one place to another within a house, the invention especially relating to a gate which can be easily opened and closed to permit passage by an adult.

Collapsible gates of the pantographic type, i.e., the type having two sets of hinged parallel and movable links forming the gate structure, are well known in the art. Examples of these collapsible or folding gates can be seen in such US Pat. Nos. as Quinones et al, 3,506,056, McPhaden 3,148,725, Hess 2,662,242, Mutch 2,348,561 and Eberle 1,618,328. These collapsible or folding gates are intended to extend between the walls of the passageway, such as a doorway, to prevent movement of a child or small animals from one side of the gate to the other. Various means have been proposed in the art for engaging the gate with the walls of the passageway, some of which involve fastening the gate elements to the walls of the passageway, and some of which involve pressure engagement with the walls. The type of gate which has the pressure engaging feature is often an adjustable and portable gate in the sense that it can be moved from one location to another and easily adjusted to fit passageways of varying widths. However, one persistent problem with these portable gates is that they have not incorporated any structure which, without disengaging the gate from the walls, permits convenient opening of the gate to free the passageway for passage by an adult or during such time as the gate is not in use. Typically, passage could only be had either by disengaging the entire gate, i.e., by releasing the pressure engagement with the walls of the passageway, or by climbing over the gate. Either of these alternatives is quite unsatisfactory, especially when elderly persons are involved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The above discussed and other problems of the prior art are overcome by the portable and collapsible gate configuration of the present invention wherein the gate may be pressure loaded into engagement with the walls of the passageway while at the same time incorporating structure to permit collapsing of the hinged parallel links so as to permit easy access, when desired, through the gate. The gate of the present invention has a pair of vertical struts with rubber bumper cups or other pressure bearing elements which are adapted to engage the sides of an opening such as a doorway. A bracing bar is positioned at a lower point near the bottom of and extending between the pair of vertical struts so that the bracing bar is in the vicinity of the lower plane of intersection of the gate links. One end of the interconnected pantographic gate linkage mechanism is attached to a third vertical strut. This third vertical strut has a spring operated hook or other engaging mechanism for selectively connecting it to or disconnecting it from one of the pair of vertical struts bearing against the passageway. The other end of the gate linkage mechanism is connected to the other of the pair of vertical struts. When the gate is closed with the third strut connected to the passageway strut, the access of a child or small animal from one side of the gate to the other is barred. However, when an adult desires to pass through the gate, he merely releases the hook and moves the gate to the partially collapsed position whereby he can then pass through the gate merely by stepping over the relatively low bracing bar and then reconnecting the hook. Thus, it is unnecessary to either disconnect the entire gate or climb over the gate.

Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved collapsible gate.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved portable collapsible gate.

Still another object of the invention 'is to provide a novel and improved collapsible gate wherein passage through the gate can be easily accomplished without having to disconnect the entire gate and without having to climb over the gate.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to and understood by those skilled in the art from the following detailed description and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring now to the drawings, wherein like elements are numbered alike in the two figures:

FIG. 1 is an elevation view of the gate of the present invention mounted in position in a doorway.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a part of the gate of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 1 of a modified version of the gate.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT:

Referring now to FIG. 1, the gate 10 of the present invention is shown in position between side walls 12 and 14 of a passageway such as a door jamb. Gate 10 has a pair of upright or vertical struts 16 and 18 at the ends of the gate, and bumper cups 20 are attached near the top and bottom of the struts l6 and 18 so that the struts can be detactably connected to walls 12 and 14. A horizontal bracing bar 22 extends between and is connected to vertical struts l6 and 18 to provide bearing pressure to force the struts toward the walls and thus effect engagement with the walls through the suction cups. Gate 10 also has the usual type of collapsible linkage mechanism made up of two sets of interconnected parallel linkage members 24 and 26 connected together in pantographic fashion. One end of the linkage assembly'is connected to strut 16, and the other end of the linkage assembly is connected to a third vertical strut 28 which has a spring loaded hook 30 for connecting it to upright strut 18.

As can be clearly seen in FIG. 1, bracing bar 22 is positioned near the bottom of the gate in the vicinity of the plane of lowermost crossing of the other links 24 and 26. It is preferred that bracing bar 22 be positioned at a location not more than one-third of the height of the gate. This positioning of bracing bar 22 in the lower portion of the gate assembly is of critical importance in the invention in that it permits easy passage of an adult when the gate is opened. The gate is shown in FIG. 1 in the closed position; i.e., the position wherein passage through the doorway or other passageway is barred by the extended gate. When an adult desires to pass through the gate, or when it is desired to leave the gate in an open position, opening of the gate can be accomplished quickly and easily without having to climb over the gate or disassemble the gate as in the prior art. All that needs to be done is to activate hook 30 to disengage the third vertical strut 28 from vertical strut l8 and then collapse the gate linkage. In this way the gate structure remains mounted in the passageway, but the linkage elements can be easily collapsed to permit opening of the gate, and in passing through the gate an adult now has only to step over the low bracing bar 22.

As will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, bracing bar 22 must be adjustable to permit the gate to be installed in passageways of various widths while at the same time providing the bearing pressure to force the suction cups into bearing engagement with the walls. Any kind of adjustment mechanism known in the art will be suitable, and the drawing shows, merely for purposes of illustration, that one portion, 22a, can be telescoped within another portion, 22b, of the strut with a locking screw 22c passing through segment 22b and engaging a slot 22d in segment 22a.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an enlarged partial view of the gate is shown, with the gate being shown partially opened. As seen in FIG. 2, hook 30 is held on strut 28 by a mounting bracket 32, and a hook 30 is urged downwardly by a spring 34 so that one leg of the spring passes through an opening 36 in mounting bracket 32. When it is desired to connect strut 28 to strut 18, hook 30 is pulled upwardly by manual force so that opening 36 is cleared. Opening 36 is then placed over eye member 38 which is fastened to strut 18, and hook 30 is released so that the leg seats in opening 36 and engages the central passageway in eye 38 thereby connecting strut 28 to strut l8 and closing the gate. To open the gate, one merely again applies manual force to hook 30 to pull it upwardly and then moves the gate linkages in the collapsing direction whereby the gate is then opened and an adult can pass through the gate merely by stepping over the low positioned bracing bar 22.

An alternative embodiment is shown in FIG. 3 wherein the gate is of the type having two interlocking and relatively slidable mesh or net pieces 50 and 52. The end vertical support 54 (which may be part of the net frame or a separate piece) of one set piece and a separate vertical strut 56 constitute the pair of wall engaging vertical struts between which the adjustable pressure bar 58 extends, and net piece 52 is selectively engaged and disengaged from strut 56 by hook 60 on strut 62 (which may be part of the net frame or a separate piece) which, in this embodiment is the third vertical strut, to close or open the gate. As in the previous embodiment, the low horizontal pressure bar makes it possible for an adult to pass through the open gate merely by stepping over the low pressure bar after the gate has been opened by disengaging hook 60 and sliding net piece 52 relative to net piece 50.

While a preferred embodiment has been shown and described, various modifications and substitutions can be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, this invention has been described by way of illustration and not limitation.

What is claimed is:

1. A gate assembly for positioning in a passageway having a pair of opposed side wall members, the gating including:

a first vertical member having first upper and lower wall engaging members thereon for engaging a first wall of a passageway, said first upper and lower wall engaging members being fixed directly to said first strut;

a second vertical strut member having second upper and lower wall engaging members thereon for engaging a second wall of a passageway, said second upper and lower wall engaging members being fixed directly to said second strut;

said first and second strut members being parallel to each other and all of said wall engaging members being identical;

movable gate means, said gate means being connected at one end to one of said vertical strut members and having a third vertical strut member at the other end thereof, said gate means being movable between a first closed position spanning the passageway between the walls and a second open position wherein at least part of the passageway is open;

engagement means for selectively connecting and disconnecting said second and third vertical strut members when said gate means is in the closed and open positions, respectively; and

pressure bar means perpendicular to and extending between said first and second vertical strut members for urging said strut members into engagement with the walls of the passageway, said pressure bar means having two elements relatively slideable with respect to each other, one of said elements having an elongated slot, and said elements being secured in place solely by locking means connected between the other of said elements and said elongated slot;

said pressure bar means being located above the bottom of said gate means at a position not more than one third of the height of said gate means and between said first and second fixed upper and lower wall engaging members on said wall engaging struts, said pressure bar in said position providing the bearing pressure to force said first and second upper and lower wall engaging members into bearing engagement with the walls while permitting easy passage thereover by an adult in the open position of said gate means.

2. A gate assembly as in claim 1 wherein:

said engagement means is a hook mounted on one of said third or second vertical struts and a hook receiving eye on the other of said struts.

3. A gate assembly as in claim 2 wherein:

said hook is on said third vertical strut.

4. A gate assembly as in claim 1 wherein:

said gate means is a collapsible linkage mechanism having links crossing and engaged at upper and lower positions, said pressure bar means being in the vicinity of lowermost crossing of said links.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CGRRECTION PATENT NO. 1 3, 5,616 DATED y 27, 1975 INVENTOR(S) Norton J. Berkowitz It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 3, line 42, "set" should be --net-- Column 4, line 4, (Claim 1, line 4) after "vertical" insert --strut- Bigncd and Scaled this second Day of September 1975 [SEAL] Arresr:

RUTH C. MASON C. MARSHALL DANN Arresting Officer (ummr'ssimwr uj'larenrs and Trademarks 

1. A gate assembly for positioning in a passageway having a pair of opposed side wall members, the gating including: a first vertical member having first upper and lower wall engaging members thereon for engaging a first wall of a passageway, said first upper and lower wall engaging members being fixed directly to said first strut; a second vertical strut member having second upper and lower wall engaging members thereon for engaging a second wall of a passageway, said second upper and lower wall engaging members being fixed directly to said second strut; said first and second strut members being parallel to each other and all of said wall engaging members being identical; movable gate means, said gate means being connected at one end to one of said vertical strut members and having a third vertical strut member at the other end thereof, said gate means being movable between a first closed position spanning the passageway between the walls and a second open position wherein at least part of the passageway is open; engagement means for selectively connecting and disconnecting said second And third vertical strut members when said gate means is in the closed and open positions, respectively; and pressure bar means perpendicular to and extending between said first and second vertical strut members for urging said strut members into engagement with the walls of the passageway, said pressure bar means having two elements relatively slideable with respect to each other, one of said elements having an elongated slot, and said elements being secured in place solely by locking means connected between the other of said elements and said elongated slot; said pressure bar means being located above the bottom of said gate means at a position not more than one third of the height of said gate means and between said first and second fixed upper and lower wall engaging members on said wall engaging struts, said pressure bar in said position providing the bearing pressure to force said first and second upper and lower wall engaging members into bearing engagement with the walls while permitting easy passage thereover by an adult in the open position of said gate means.
 2. A gate assembly as in claim 1 wherein: said engagement means is a hook mounted on one of said third or second vertical struts and a hook receiving eye on the other of said struts.
 3. A gate assembly as in claim 2 wherein: said hook is on said third vertical strut.
 4. A gate assembly as in claim 1 wherein: said gate means is a collapsible linkage mechanism having links crossing and engaged at upper and lower positions, said pressure bar means being in the vicinity of lowermost crossing of said links. 